Permanency in the News – Week of 2/5/18

February 5, 2018 -

Greetings Permanency Champions,

Permanency Tip of the Week: Start with the Why for Permanency

Simon Senek’s TED Talk, focuses on the importance of tapping into the “Why” of what we do, not just the “How” and “What.” In looking for the “Why” behind our Permanency efforts, we need to look no further than the correlation between our experience/response to the best and worst days of our own lives to the presence of Permanency. On our best days, our sources of Permanency were often the first people we told and the ones whose joy was the most impactful. On our worst days, our sources of Permanency were often the first people we reached out to and the ones whose comfort and compassion was the most impactful. This is the WHY behind Permanency being so critical for those we serve in foster care as well as for us as the providers.

New York Daily News – The more the merrier. That’s the mantra that a Long Island family will use to ring in 2018 surrounded by friends and lots of family — including the five foster children they officially adopted last month. Aleisha and Anthony Bryant will celebrate their first New Year’s Eve since expanding their family’s numbers into the double digits, counting their own two kids from previous relationships and a former foster daughter.

The Bryants made the decision in 2015 to open their hearts and their Baldwin home to foster children in need when an agent with You Gotta Believe — an adoption agency that specifically places older foster kids and sibling groups — recommended a family of five siblings, ranging in age from 6 to 18…“We didn’t know how we were going to do this, but we knew we had enough love to make it work,” Aleisha said. They adopted the quintet of kids on National Adoption Day in November, at the Long Island Children’s Museum. “We still have no regrets; it’s been a roller-coaster ride, but it’s been worth it,” Aleisha added. #yougottabelieve

Permanency Related Articles:

Sharon Kaplan Roszia has devoted her entire career to the field adoption and foster care beginning in 1963. She has worked in both public and private agencies has developed and guided a private organization to meet the needs of adoptive families and has given presentations around the globe…Sharon is currently co-authoring her next book, “The Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency,” based on the construct she developed with Deborah Silverstein in 1986…The Seven Core Issues in Adoption are referenced in various training and educational curriculum, internet sites, books and articles, and are often utilized and taught by professionals throughout the United States and Canada…For several months Sharon and co-author Allison Davis Maxon have been expanding and blending the core issues with the field of attachment and trauma. #adoption, #sevencoreissues, #attachment, #trauma

The popular Harry Moon series is written for a middle school audience and encourages readers to become heroes in their own communities, accepting the differences of others and cultivating kind behavior. The series highlights topics like foster care, adoption and embracing those with special needs… A portion of the proceeds will go directly to The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption…There are more than 150,000 children in North America who are in foster care waiting to be adopted. More than 20,000 children age out of care each year. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption funds adoption recruiter positions at adoption agencies across the U.S. and Canada. Those recruiters focus on finding homes for the children who are most at risk of aging out without being adopted. This includes older children, sibling groups, and children with special needs. #DTFA

Stanford News – Neglected children who are placed with foster care families earlier in life are more likely to be just as resilient and competent socially, academically and physically as their peers who have never been institutionalized when they reach their teenage years, according to new Stanford research focused on children in Romania…Researchers found that 56 percent of previously institutionalized children who were randomly placed with foster care families when they were between 6 months and 2 and a half years old was as competent across a range of metrics as their peers at 12 years old. This is more than double the percentage of those children who remained in institutional care, of which only 23 percent were deemed to be competent at age 12, according to the study, published Feb. 1 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. #Stanford

Children’s Bureau – Summary of findings from the most recent Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data for fiscal year 2016, a research snapshot about how parental work schedules affect the way families use public or private early care and education and nonparental care services, a new podcast that highlights a child welfare veteran’s perspective on the biggest lessons learned by agencies and professionals, and a list of the latest updates to the Children’s Bureau website.